McVey Goes Back to Cruel Sanctions Regime. The ‘sanctions regime’ is a long standing gripe of claimants. In 2016 amongst many reports there was this: (Independent 30th of November), Benefits sanctions don’t work and plunge claimants into ‘hunger and depression’, National Audit Office finds The benefit sanctions system has become a ‘postcode lottery’ and is […]

Government Responds to Critical Report by Wheeling out Lies. Capita and Atos, the latter later replaced by Maximus, names that should be on every infant’s lips… as bogeymen. The crooks contacted to run our public services have come a cropper again. This time they have created misery for thousands and thousands of disabled people caught […]

Happy Shiny People Like Universal Credit! Here is a brilliant look at how the government gets its sense of self-statisfaction, A critique of the recent government survey of peoples’ “satisfaction” with the DWP. Conservatives have been eager to cite this survey but it is flawed. The biggest flaw is that only people with an open […]

“SALFORD SONGWRITER CREATES NATIONAL SACK ESTHER MCVEY CAMPAIGN TRACK” In January, a campaign was launched, backed by Salford TUC, to Sack Esther McVey Again, building on a previous successful campaign to get her sacked as MP for the Wirral (see previous Salford Star article – click here). And this week she had to step down from the advisory […]

A Cause of Major Snarl Ups for Universal Credit Claimants. Computer Weekly is one of our favourite reads, an essential source for information about a crucial part of the Benefits system, IT. One of our contributors pointed to this story way back in the mists of time (2014): The IT risks facing Universal Credit. A few […]

Some well-dodgy companies and ‘charities’ are set to run the Work and Health Programme, Central England Shaw Trust January 2018 2 North East England Reed in Partnership January 2018 3 North West England Ingeus November 2017 4 Southern England Pluss January 2018 5 Home Counties Shaw Trust January 2018 6 Wales Remploy December 2017 […]

Review, a “complex exercise and of considerable scale”. Personal Independence payments: All 1.6 million claims to be reviewed BBC. Every person receiving Personal Independence Payments (PIP) will have their claim reviewed, the Department for Work and Pensions has said. A total of 1.6 million of the main disability benefit claims will be reviewed, with around […]

What Labour is up against. Labour’s policy on Universal Credit, “The Tories’ Universal Credit programme is pushing thousands of families into poverty, debt and homelessness. We’re demanding the Tories urgently pause and fix Universal Credit, before millions more are affected. Say you’re with us. Now some may say that calling on the Government to ‘fix’ […] […]

Is it wrong to be rude about Esther McVey? The Tories and their mates in the press seem to think so. They keep stirring up a campaign to defend the poor Work and Pensions Secretary. The I reports yesterday John McDonnell once again refused to apologise for repeating comments that called for Cabinet minister Esther […]

The coordinated counterattack waged by representatives of capital against these two ideas since the 1980s has been very successful. Protection of the return on capital is now the over-riding long-term policy goal, and it is one that has engineered for itself considerable popular support. Its preferred ideological disguise is a version of the American […] […]

Over the last couple of days the strangest thought has plagued me. Two simple ugly words have kept emerging, only for me to lock them out and ridicule them as bizarre. Simon’s dead. Just to write it down feels like … Continue reading →

If you ever needed confirmation that the UK is not run by a shadowy cabal of sinister plotters but a bunch of chinless fucking idiots then the upcoming Digital Economy Bill is a good place to start. As well as … Continue reading →

Nowhere in the Joseph Rowntree Foundation’s latest stupid report do they ackowledge the real cause of poverty – which is the relentless theft of our labour and land by a capitalist class whose wealth and power grows ever greater. In … Continue reading →

A new book chapter using testimonies compiled by Boycott Workfare exposes the violent impact of forced labour. When we talk about what’s wrong with workfare, we often mention the horrifying material impact on people’s lives of the benefit sanctions that underwrite it. The political impact of unwaged work is also important – the way it […]

On Thursday there are actions taking place across the UK demanding an end to benefit sanctions. We’re asking you to target three charities – Samaritans, Scope, and Sue Ryder – who claim to be anti-workfare, but have been benefitting from the forced, unpaid work of unemployed people for years. (Community Work Placements, which finished in […]

From Boycott Workfare Take part in the week of action against workfare 18-24 March The Government is pushing ahead with increasingly savage workfare policies despite the fierce resistance to the scheme causing many high street names and national charities to pull out. Unemployed people can now be sentenced to six months compulsory unpaid work as […]